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So, just to back up my claim that you're lucky to have a book review worth critiquing, here's a sketch of my local paper's sketchy books coverage on Sunday.

Two reviews. That's right, a scant two reviews.

The lead review is nonfiction (of course):

Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare by Phillip Short, reviewed by William Grimes for the New York Times. This review is paired with a giant piece of art two columns wide and more than half the page long. So, the art is the longest piece of work on the page.

The other review is at least of local interest, it's for a debut poetry collection by a professor at a small college nearby:

Anomie by Marcia L. Hurlow (CustomWords) reviewed by Jeff Worley a poet and editor of the University of Kentucky's research magazine. Descriptors used in review: imagistic, concise and accessible.

The only other things on the page are:

the New York Times top 10 fiction and non-fiction best sellers;

the Literary Calendar -- actually not lame because Kentucky has a vibrant literary scene (just not being covered) -- featuring the InKY Reading Series in Louisville with Kevin Ducey, Jonathan Green and Tom C Hunley on tap and physicist Brian Greene's appearance at Georgetown College; and the

Kentucky Women Writer's Conference Schedule -- also not lame, but canned content and not actual book coverage. (And hey, yes, I will be at the free Tift Merritt show followed by Louise Gluck and apprentice Dana Levin at the library.)

The Conference schedule seems to have bumped the weekly What's New at the Library squib.

Verdict: Better than usual. Which is sad.